Lastly, consider tohat a recompence awaits you in the eternal world. There shall this promise be fulfilled to you in its utmost extent.
Cultivate then this amiable disposition, that you may be " sons of God, without rebuke, and shine as lights in a be- nighted world'."]
i Phil. ii. 14, 15.
Matt. V. 10 — \2. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and he exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
CHRISTIANITY, to one who is not acquainted with its real nature, must appear full of paradoxes. In the preceding verses, we are informed what prac- tical religion is ; and, in the parallel passage in St. Luke's Gospel, we have the same truths yet more plainly and explicitly declared^ Had any uninspired person avowed such sentiments, we should have been ready to pronounce him mad : for there is scarcely any thing which we regard with dread, but a blessing is annexed to it ; or any thing which we consider as desirable, but a woe is denounced against it : the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the despised, are con- gratulated ; and the rich, the full, the laughing, and the honoured, are represented as in a truly pitiable condition. But perhaps the greatest paradox of all is, that persons possessed of vital Christianity should be objects of persecution ; that their piety should be the ground of that persecution ; and that they should, on this very account, be esteemed happy. But so it is : and so it will appear ; if we consider,
I. The case here supposed —
a Luke vi. 20 — 26.